Kingwood Rotary Club promotes patriotism with flags

Kingwood Rotary places US flags in front of residences, businesses

By Bryan Kirk

Published 5:26 pm, Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Photo: David Hopper, Freelance

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Kngwood Rotary Club members Carolyn Wise left, and Tommie Buscemi examine the condition of the U.S. flags inside a storage unit. During certain patriotic holidays The Rotary Club places the flags at the homes of residents and at businesses that have subscribed to the service. less

Kngwood Rotary Club members Carolyn Wise left, and Tommie Buscemi examine the condition of the U.S. flags inside a storage unit. During certain patriotic holidays The Rotary Club places the flags at the homes ... more

Photo: David Hopper, Freelance

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Kingwood Rotary Club President Charlie Buscemi carefully handles a flag that will be placed outside a residence or business during certain patriotic holidays.

Kingwood Rotary Club President Charlie Buscemi carefully handles a flag that will be placed outside a residence or business during certain patriotic holidays.

Photo: David Hopper, Freelance

Kingwood Rotary Club promotes patriotism with flags

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The Kingwood Rotary Club may be small in number, but they are powerful when it comes to their patriotic spirit.

The Kingwood Rotary, which has 12 members, works tirelessly to raise money for its annual Flags Across Kingwood fundraiser by soliciting flag subscriptions.

"This our major fundraising program and the only one we have to make money on, so we take care of this very well," said Charlie Buscemi, president of the Kingwood Rotary Club and chairman of the flag committee.

The subscriptions, which cost $50 per flag per year, pay for a 3-by-5 US flag on an 8-foot pole to be placed in the front yard of a home, or in front of a business in observance of Sept. 11, or Patriot Day; Independence Day, Veteran's Day and Memorial Day.

"We have over 350 subscribers in the Kingwood area," Buscemi said.

The club gets help from veterans, the Boy Scouts of America and the junior ROTC organizations from the Humble Independent School District, he said.

The money raised through these subscriptions is used to support local projects, charities and nonprofit organizations, such as Mission Northeast in New Caney.

The Kingwood Rotary Club, which has been in existence since 2004, started the flag subscription program in 2008 and has subscribers in Kingwood, Oak Crest, Atascocita and Walden.

"People asked for this (outside their service area) and we just couldn't say no to them," Buscemi said.

His wife, Tommie Buscemi was serving as the Rotary Club president at the time and decided the flag subscriptions would be a great fundraising concept and would also show patriotism.

"I had seen other Rotary Clubs, not just in the Houston area, but throughout Texas doing this," she said.

The concept gained popularity when residents in Kingwood began to see the first few flags displayed in front of businesses, homes and at the entrances of some subdivisions.

"We get thanked all the time, and on those patriotic holidays the Kingwood community looks so awesome because of those American flags," she said.

The flags usually go up a few days before the actual holiday and remain up a few days after the holiday observance has passed.

"We keep the flags out a good six or seven days because we want people to see the flag during those holidays, especially 9/11 and July Fourth and feel good about it," Buscemi said.